Category: Editor’s Choice

  • pictures. » stories in search of tellers.

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    Photos by Rob Finch

    “Stories are in search of tellers. And when a story grabs onto you, that’s the one you should be telling.” – Storyteller Alton Takiyama-Chung recites one of his favorite quotes.

    Check it out here.

  • Photographer's Journal: A View of Chad's Refugee Crisis | The New York Times

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    Photographer’s Journal: A View of Chad’s Refugee Crisis, by Noor photographer Jan Grarup.

    Check it out here. Via APAD.

  • World Press Photo – Photo of the Year – Tim Hetherington

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    The international jury of the 51st annual World Press Photo Contest selected a color image of the UK photographer Tim Hetherington as World Press Photo of the Year 2007. The picture was taken 16 September 2007 and shows a US soldier resting at “Restrepo” bunker, named after a soldier from his platoon who was recently killed by insurgents.

    The 2nd Battalion Airborne of the 503rd US infantry is undergoing a deployment in the Korengal Valley in the Eastern province of Afghanistan. The valley is infamous as the site of downing of a US helicopter and has seen some of the most intense fighting in the country. Hetherington’s photograph is part of a picture story that was also awarded 2nd Prize in General News Stories. He had traveled to Afghanistan on assignment for Vanity Fair.

    “This image shows the exhaustion of a man – and the exhaustion of a nation,” says jury chairman Gary Knight, and adds “We’re all connected to this. It’s a picture of a man at the end of a line.” Fellow juror MaryAnne Golon commented: “I use all my energy to have people notice bad things. There’s a human quality to this picture. It says that conflict is the basis of this man’s life.”

    Check it out here.

  • PDN's World in Focus: The Ultimate Travel Photography Contest 2008

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    The more than 80 images showcased on the following pages were submitted by photographers who found picture-worthy moments in places as diverse as Antarctica and the Libyan desert, as well as locations that hit a little closer to home. So whether it’s Faisal Almalki’s snapshot of a man and his camel in Cairo or Ramin Talaie’s photograph of more than 2,500 Lubavitcher Rabbis in Brooklyn that catches your eye, these entries will give you a glimpse of the world.

    The contest was judged in six categories: Human Condition, Extreme Exploration, Urban Landscapes, Snapshots, Wilderness and Open Series. The judges’ choices for Grand Prize and First Place in each category are shown on the followin

    Check it out here.

  • redlights and redeyes: art of art

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    I got sent to Miami for three days for The New York Times for a piece on the Miami art scene post Art Basel. I can’t really say much more than it was an amazing time, met some really chill people and got a chance to just wander and make photos I wanted to make. We don’t get to do nearly as much of that these days in our business, so I took full advantage of making wrong turns, finding random wi-fi spots (thank you Denny’s), and taking in some spectacular shows.

    These are only a fraction of the 80-picture edit I sent, but I’ll drop a few more on this blog in a few days when I get around to editing my stuff from my random side-trip to the fashion district – which is about as close to painted wall heaven as I have ever been.

    Check it out here.

  • The Year in Pictures: Jehad Nga

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    One of the most striking new bodies of work I’ve seen recently is a series of photographs made by the 30 year old photojournalist Jehad Nga. Taken in a Somalian café and lit only by a single shaft on sunlight, the images illuminate their subjects in the clandestine manner of Walker Evans’ subway pictures or Harry Callahan’s “Women Lost in Thought”.

    Nga was born in Kansas, but moved soon after, first to Libya and then to London. In his early 20s he was living in Los Angeles and taking courses at UCLA, when he came across the book “Digital Diaries” by Natasha Merritt. The book, a collection of sexually intimate photos made with a digital point-and-shoot, convinced Nga that he could become a photographer. One year later he was traveling through the Middle East taking pictures.

    Check it out here.

  • SHANE LAVALETTE / JOURNAL » Richard Barnes: Murmur

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    Richard Barnes has three interesting projects on his website. I absolutely love Murmur, which I originally came across on Mrs. Deane. It reminds me of Nicolai Howalt and Trine Søndergaard’s series Dying Birds, but I like how Barnes has captured the mysterious patterns that the birds make.

    Check it out here.

  • Another country — chicagotribune.com

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    Thirteen years ago, Chicago Tribune photographer Scott Strazzante began visiting a family farm. Over the years he took thousand of pictures of the couple and their land and all the creatures that lived there. In 2002 he chronicled the farm’s end. Call it death, if you will. Call it progress, if you must

    “…I was determined to one day go back to their land and see what happened to it…

    He found, on what had been the farm’s 119 acres, a subdivision called Willow Walk. The results are a photographic wonder, as the past bleeds into and is reflected in the present.

    Check it out here, via A Photo a Day.

  • The Wild Weird World of Sports: Past & Present

    Check it out:

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    The Wild Weird World of Sports: Past & Present

    Photography, as in art, is totally subjective.

    I’ve spent much of 2007 trying to figure out what I want to tell visually, what interests me. That doesn’t always translate into contest wins. Whatever.

    I had many people I truly respect look over my work from this past year. Some parts of an edit, I loved. Others, less certain.

    Not sure if this is a winning edit, but it’s what I submitted for 2007 Sports Portfolio. For whatever it’s worth, it feels right to me.

  • My LIfe at f/22: 2007 Pictures of the Year – Chris Detrick

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    My LIfe at f/22: 2007 Pictures of the Year.: “With the advent of contest season, I have been reviewing and editing my pictures from the past year. I am not very eloquent when it comes to talking about photography, but if you are interested, have a look at the following slide show.”

  • MediaStorm: Rape of a Nation by Marcus Bleasdale

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    MediaStorm: Rape of a Nation by Marcus Bleasdale: “The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is home to the deadliest war in the world today. An estimated 5.4 million people have died since 1998, the largest death toll since the Second World War, according to the International Rescue Committee (IRC).

    IRC reports that as many as 45,000 people die each month in the Congo. Most deaths are due to easily preventable and curable conditions, such as malaria, diarrhea, pneumonia, malnutrition, and neonatal problems and are byproducts of a collapsed healthcare system and a devastated economy.

    The people living in the mining towns of eastern Congo are among the worst off. Militia groups and government forces battle on a daily basis for control of the mineral-rich areas where they can exploit gold, coltan, cassiterite and diamonds.

    After successive waves of fighting and ten years of war, there are no hospitals, few roads and limited NGO and UN presence because it is too dangerous to work in many of these regions. The West’s desire for minerals and gems has contributed to a fundamental breakdown in the social structure.”

  • TheStar.com

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    TheStar.com: “Twenty days. Twenty thousand still images. A single message. Toronto Star photographer Lucas Oleniuk captures the issue of global warming in a video created entirely by using still images.

  • WHNPA Eyes of History 2008

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    WHNPA Eyes of History 2008: “Photographer of the Year

    Jahi Chikwendiu

    The Washington Post”

  • Back To Shooting: I need to write things down

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    Back To Shooting: I need to write things down: “I neglected to enter POY this year, because I thought I only had a couple images worth entering, both in the pictorial category. I forgot that when I left Lincoln, I thought I might have a good sports portfolio. So for your viewing pleasure, here’s what I could have entered, if I had stayed on top of things.”

  • Getty Images – News Blog » Blog Archive » The Assassination of Benazir Bhutto

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    Getty Images – News Blog » Blog Archive » The Assassination of Benazir Bhutto: “As the former prime minister’s car surged forward, I pushed out of the way, ahead of her vehicle. I needed to adjust my camera. In the melee, the shutter setting had been bumped down to 1/15th and 1/8th of a second, giving the photos an unintended impressionistic look.

    I turned on my flash, but just before resetting the lens, I turned and glanced back at her car.

    That’s when I heard three shots. I knew from the sound that they were fired close to her car. I watched her drop down through the sunroof. Instinctively, I raised my camera, my finger pressed down on the shutter, starting to shoot without looking.

    Just as the camera came up in front of my face, the bomb went off.”

  • CLAM$ CA$INO: I’m loaded, don’t know where to point this thing.

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    CLAM$ CA$INO: I’m loaded, don’t know where to point this thing.: “from pr to bk Clam$ CaSino brings the fishiest flicks
    from the first half of the first month of oh eight. ah ite?”

  • Basketball Prank

    Basketball Prank


    From some blog:

    On Saturday, at the game, when Pruitt was introduced in the starting lineup, the chants began: “Victoria, Victoria.” One of the fans held up a sign with her phone number.

    Here.